“But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister:”
Mark 10:42-43

“But if any does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
1 Timothy 5:8

“I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism”
1 Timothy 5:21

None of the scriptures related to helping the “poor” are not directed at a 3rd party entity to do it for you.

God is asking us as “individuals”,”What are YOU doing to help the poor?”

God is holding YOU personally responsible.

What you have done is “OUTSOURCED” your “RESPONSIBILITY” to the government..

Approximately 31 cents of every dollar you pay in taxes to “help” the poor. Maybe 15 cents of that actually “helps” someone.

This is why WE as society condone our young women to have sex at an early age because We say, No worry, “There’s a government program for that”

This is why so many children are fatherless because We say, No worry “There’s a government program for that”

This is why so many families in which the elders are not being provided for because their children say, No worry “There’s a government program for that”

So in reality, many people have “Deceived” themselves in thinking they are helping the “poor” thru goverment but in fact have shown themselves in reality to be be “disconnected” and “uncaring” toward those that need help the most.

1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Even Caesars — the worst of them — are ordained of God according to the Scripture. They are described as God’s ministers in the Scripture for two purposes — to minister to the people they rule for good, and to avenge evil. Those are the two roles of government. So, from a Biblical perspective, “Caesar is not the solution — He’s the problem!” is a massive oversimplification — God has designed roles that government is supposed to carry out. To speak on a particular role of doing good: it is a very good thing that Joseph, one of the great heroes of the faith in the Bible, did not say to Pharoah, all the way back in a major crisis in Genesis, that “Pharoah, we’re not the solution — we’re the problem!” Egypt, that great civilization, would have starved out, as would have many others. Instead, Joseph, under Pharoah’s authority, gathered massive amounts of grain in the years of plenty and redistributed them to the people of Egypt and the world in the years of famine, thus preserving the people. Thus we know, BIBLICALLY, that government’s role of doing good CAN INCLUDE REDISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES, in emergency circumstances. Now I agree with you that most people in government are not walking with God to the extent Joseph was, but the point is, God approved of government doing good with the country’s total resources for those in need!

One more thing: I appreciate that we live in the United States of America — government of the people, for the people, and by the people (at least in theory). I have the right, since essentially Caesar in this country is a representative of ME, to expect at least as much from an outspoken Christian GOP conservative as I expect of myself and the Christians around me — and we have our lives all in, doing what we can when it comes to the destitute around us. It is not too much to ask of those of the 535 that claim the same faith to be doing all THEY can — and they have much more capacity because of their role, relatively speaking! Talk is as cheap from a GOP conservative as it is from a Democrat liberal — I have the right, Biblically and as a citizen of this country, to expect movement in government for the good of people in need, and thus to expect those who want to eliminate one form of doing good (however imperfectly) with another!

Second of all, recall the difference in how many resources the 535 can move move back and forth compared to any individual among the 30 million. Put it another way; I can only do so much with stretching my personal paycheck, and I am doing all I can. Most of the 30 million (being also members of the 99 percent) are in the same position — but we live in a republic and elect those 535 to do our will with all the dollars they likewise remove from our paycheck (although that is a subject we could profitably discuss; if taxes were lower…)! That is the whole point of representative government.

I’ll give you yet another point of view on this: There is an excellent reason that FEMA was reopened — I guarantee you that if it should occur that a large natural disaster should land on your doorstep, you will be very glad if Caesar should happen to roll up with the resources that the 30 million does not have in materials and know-how. Ask anybody who lived through Hurricane Sandy, for a recent example — we of the 30 million prayed, and many did what we could who were in the area, but since private business does not tend to mobilize unless there is profit to offset that move, there was nobody to come but Caesar (and of course, there are some of the 30 million that work for Caesar).

There is a legitimate role for Caesar, by the way, even in the Bible. Please recall Romans 13:1-7 — and remember that this comes even though the particular Caesar, if my reading of Suetonius’ Twelve Caesars is correct (

We agree that it is not Caesar’s job [to feed and cloth the poor.]
…what…GOP…intend to do after Caesar has shutdown…

A direct answer as far as feeding and clothing the poor; Nothing.
The simples explanation; It’s not their job.
The government shutdown doesn’t affect feeding and clothing the poor,
sort of poor, and not poor programs. i.e. Welfare or SNAP.
The Congress (at least GOP) isn’t as cold blooded as the Democrats want you to believe.
People get angry at the GOP. Always asking what is the GOP’s solutions to the problems?
They answer back. Caesar is not the solution; HE’S THE PROBLEM!
The GOP wants to free you from Caesar and the Democrats want you to Hail Caesar as God.

If all of Congress were true Christians. That would be 535 Christians.
In the mid-1990s the United States had the largest Christian population on earth, with 224 million Christians.
I beg you for an answer to my question.
What group of Christians has the ability to do the most good, 535 controlled by the rules of Caesar or 224 million free to following the rules of God?
Do you think Caesar leads souls to Christ by giving them food, clothe, and money?
What is the answer for you and 224 million other Christians? Do your job!!!!!

For the record: I am what you would consider a Negro (although, as our word discussions should suggest, you are a few years behind in your use of descriptive terminology), but I am not a Democrat. The day that GOP conservatives get up and say that they are ready to personally sacrifice and encourage their constituents so that the destitute do have real options beside dependence on government is the day I’d consider becoming a Republican. But right now, I see precious few conservatives vocal about government overreach who are putting things on the line like that. Meanwhile, kids who had no choice but to be here still need food, shelter, and education. People who have been looking for years for jobs that no longer exist need help to retrain and restart, and survive with their families in the meantime. I am waiting for GOP conservatives to come up with an alternative plan to Caesar that could meet the needs of this magnitude. I have been waiting a long time.

Socialism — I’m not a fan either. But I refer you back to the book of Acts, in which folks had all things common long before Karl Marx’s forebears moved into what would become Germany. That is a much better model — but again, I don’t see the most vocal GOP conservatives using or promoting that model in words or by example. They present a false choice between two equally godless models — capitalism, at least as far as my most recent review of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations has determined, is not exactly a Christian phenomenon either. Capitalism is ideologically more neutral, but even then — I refrain on this occasion from talking about how ungodly were the means in which the early capitalists obtained much of their original capital. I have talked about the low points of European imperialist history enough for one thread. But, I end largely where I and Mr. Buford begin: we are waiting for GOP conservatives who tout their Christian values to act like it. Socialism? No. Sacrificial Christian charity in the attitude and example of people who loud-talk their Christian beliefs? A little more would be nice…

While I do not have time to go into it at length, there is plenty of evidence that the Bible itself is not a Roman fabrication — there are condemnations in it that homosexual Emperors would never have allowed or would have had excised, for merely one example, if it was something that they had control over. But, as we sometimes say in Christian circles, man rules and God overrules.

I agree with you that Constantine has had an outsized influence on the way Christianity has been presented to the modern world, but you’ll have to give God’s people a little credit for being able to know and experience God and His Word for themselves, beyond the rituals imposed by Constantine and his ilk. For the Bible does not at all in the New Testament speak of a hierarchy of Constantine’s making, but of each Christian being a priest before God, of only one Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of each believer being directly instructed and led by the Holy Spirit, thus denying the necessity of having to be dependent on a man-made hierarchy for spiritual connection. There are bodies of evidence among our people that show that at one time we rose above Constantine’s model: I find in the Negro Spirituals a reflection of Christianity that is far different from the model of Christianity introduced by European slavers, a model that better reflects the Church as presented in the Book of Acts, not the church as represented by Constantine. But then again, a look at the book of Acts shows Christians before the great cathedrals, mostly poor, mostly persecuted, and the few with resources sharing with those that did not. That matched very well with the condition of our ancestors here — and I do not put it past God to have revealed Himself to our ancestors in reality despite the poor introduction He received through Europeans. In fact, I know that He did; I descend from generations of Christians who operated outside of Constantine’s mindset, and whose holy, consistent lives denoted the reality of their connection with God through Jesus Christ. I am a Christian not because of white people; I am a Christian because of God working through the testimony of Black people, in my family, long before I even knew any white Christians.

(By the way, the Bible as we have it shows through the Lord’s genealogies that He has not a drop of proto-European blood in His human descent line. How in the world did Constantine and his ilk let THAT pass, if the Bible were truly a fabrication by those types? I say all that to say: no one in my family has ever worshiped a “white Jesus.”)

Today is another story — as we have become more prosperous, we have assimilated more to Constantine’s model, more concerned with material possessions and power than with God’s Word and His mission in the world. God, as revealed in the Bible, may be Supreme Ruler of the universe, but He is no European imperialist, for no European imperialist would ever have had penned anything as inclusive as John 3:16. A read of the Bible would show that it does not square with the ideals of the Roman Empire and its spiritual descendants– it condemns the very decadence you rightly point up, promises that the transgressions of that empire in its final form will be thoroughly punished, and describes a way of life and worship that is far different from anything Constantine ever dreamed up. This is, unfortunately, not what most Black people today are practicing — and what most Black people are practicing is indeed quite destructive. We agree on that. I am not advocating any particular set of rituals or hierarchy that pass as Christianity, but I am among Black Christians of all denominations who are coming together around the reality of Christianity beyond Constantine’s perversions. There is such a reality — and that is where I stand.

Rant:
to talk loudly and in a way that shows anger
to complain in a way that is unreasonable
I didn’t say that you were angry. I don’t care how you personally feel.
I just think that both your and Buford, along with most Negros and Democrats, write and talk with an over abundance of unreasonable statements.

I was going to write 2-3 more replies to this section but I think this will be my last. I’ll give one biblical scripture and my humble opinion.

Mark 12:15-17
“Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.

Jesus never, not that I know of, said that Caesar’s duty was to feed or cloth the poor, widows, orphans, needy, sick, afflicted, oppressed, or strangers.
That is a Christian duty.
Tell me, if I’m wrong?
Is Caesar your brothers’ keeper?
I think not.
I’d much rather waste my money on God than Caesar.
It’s a sad day when people rely and trust Caesar more than God.
Sorry, As a Christian, I just can’t except Socialism.